Raja Riding

12/10/2024

Great evening working with 2 of my favorite horses. Red as always tries to please and Grace and I had a great ride practicing our liberty under saddle - I didn’t have to pick up the reins once with her.

06/10/2024

Make Them Carry Their Saddle
A father of a darling girl and I were talking last week and he said that he wanted his daughter to ride more and not have to do the work part of the catching, grooming, and saddling. I smiled as I explained.
Riding horses is a combination of strength, timing, and balance. Kids in this country are physically weak (unless they are actively involved with weight training and physical conditioning 4+ times a week.)
When you walk out to the field, you are clearing your stress from being under fluorescent lights all day; feeling the sun soak into your bones. As your body moves on uneven surfaces, it strengthens your legs and core.
When you groom your horse (especially currying), you are toning your arms and stabilizing your core.

When you carry your saddle, your arms, chest, and back are doing isolated strengthening work.
Being near horses, calms and makes you tune into the splendor of these empathetic animals.
When you ride at a posting trot, it’s equivalent to a slow jog calorie burn wise.
After a lesson, the riders are physically tired and mentally quiet and balanced.
Horses feel your heart beat and mirror your emotions back.
Riding large and somewhat unpredictable animals makes you resilient and pushes your expectations.

Working with horses is so much more than learning how to ride.
So parents, make your children carry their saddles. Don’t do the hard parts for them, as long term it actually hurts them. To advance with their riding, they must get stronger. You can help by doing the high parts.
I love having you all at the farm, and am so grateful to get to share these fascinating animals with you.
Hannah Campbell Zapletal

07/07/2024

Grey horses go to great extremes to be any color other than grey but pooping in her water bucket and then soaking her tail in the green water takes it to a whole new level.

27/05/2024

26/04/2024

16/04/2024

Fire breathing dragon 🐉 in the clouds. Maeve saw it first.

06/04/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/KyJbDryTrp1mEk46/?mibextid=WC7FNe

02/04/2024

02/04/2024

Haflngers are so quiet! Such calm horses... have you met Tara? Someone stuffed a hot thoroughbred in this this little tank-like draft pony body. But don't let that fool you-this little mare is a liberty rockstar and healing hero. She may not yet be the kids horse I hoped for but she's rock solid on helping people heal and brining joy to those she meets.

02/04/2024

Remarkable Grace, or as we call her, simply Grace. She is patient and kind and always aware of the grief people carry. I am thankful for her patience, her grace with new riders and how she cares for those she works with. She is brave and teaches people who cross her path. She is a blessing and I am thankful to share her path.

02/04/2024

Red the not red but amazing equine teacher- this little horse is a marvelous teacher- from partnering with me on equine gestalt coaching to helping a new rider find their balance and confidence he is a master teacher. I am humbled by the horses who help me and their grace to meet people where they are at. And at the same time for me he is an upper level horse who can do walk canter transitions, tempe changes, and work cows. Or help someone learn to ride or help someone learn to find themself. I am blessed to share my life with these amazing horses.

23/03/2024

Give credit where credit is due. 20+ years ago this gentleman changed my parents path with horses and they told me about him and he changed the types of questions I asked my horses and my path as well. It was pretty cool to see him again and have a chance to say thank you! Thank you Pat Parelli!

15/03/2024

So true. Acupuncture, massage and chiropractic help us re-align and reconnect with our own awareness. The book Horse Brain Human Brain has some great awareness exercises for riders as well

Oh, if only things reliably felt as they are...🤔🧐😅

As an instructor I’ve often seen this fun play out, but just as much so as a rider. For me, often the case is that I am *absolutely certain* that I am properly turning my upper body to the right when I am, rather unfortunately, not. 🫣

I was initially incredulous when my instructor hinted that perhaps I was STILL.NOT.TURNING because I most certainly FELT like I was. But of course I eventually realized the truth, and then the even bigger truth that things don’t always feel as they are. Lame.

02/03/2024

This!!!

Ok friends, let’s be real… We’ve all seen some ISO ads lately that would make any true horseman stop in their tracks…

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ISO Unicorn

Absolutely no spook, quirks, vices, maintenance, special needs. 100% safe.
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Thank goodness they are shopping for unicorns and not horses, because a good horseman knows that is absolutely impossible from a horse.

Personally I spooked at a squirrel yesterday, and I have better vision than a horse and am not a prey animal.

No one can guarantee any activity in your life is safe—-not soccer, not baseball, not tennis, nothing. Those are the choices you make and the risks you voluntarily take on to participate in the activity you’ve chosen and to live your life. We all try to make the best choices we can of course, but any seller that promises any facet of your life is guaranteed safe is selling snake oil.

As for the horse’s quirks and special needs? I’ve owned hundreds of horses in my career and worked with many hundreds more. The five best horses of my career were as follows:

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Horse #5. Vices: Cannot pull mane or body clip without heavy sedation. Must be in front when hacking in group. Why it’s worth it: Horse of a lifetime for his rider.

Horse #4. Vices: Free because he failed his PPE so badly at 5yo. Needs $800 shoes from a top farrier every 6 weeks. Why it’s worth it: Competed at the upper levels of eventing very successfully and reliably for 11 years.

Horse #3. Vices: Poor mover in the trot, extremely hot, needs a very kind rider. Why it’s worth it: Evented through advanced level, national champion at intermediate.

Horse #2. Vices: May rear and buck. Kicks and bites on ground. Will not go in any wash stall. Why it’s worth it: Never once dropped his rider. Evented through advanced level.

Horse #1. Vices: Incredibly spooky, poor mover in trot, chip on X-rays. Why it’s worth it: Successful and prolific advanced horse, sold and exported to a European Olympic team.

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Our horse shopping advice to you? Be a good horseman.

If the horse makes you smile every day, who cares if it’s tough to pull its mane?

If the horse takes the best care of you, who cares if it flinches trotting past a trash can? Use your inside leg.

If the horse does the job you need it to do, who cares if it needs a good farrier? They should ALL have good farriers.

If the horse saves your behind every time you don’t see a distance, who cares if it cribs on a feed tub?

Good luck, happy shopping, and for the love of unicorns, stop seeking things that don’t exist or you’ll never find it.

—Megan Moore, Verona Equestrian
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(Welcome to share, please don’t copy paste.)

29/02/2024

For my avid equestrian readers, I need to go ahead and write these. I think I could seriously help a lot of people out by supplying them with this sort of handy information.🤔🤣

We won't discuss the hardships involved in obtaining this sort of Holy Grail level of knowledge...

29/02/2024

Fascinating

Study shows that horses are capable of using a mode of communication often used by dogs. The data revealed that horses did, indeed, attempt to communicate with their handlers—or any attentive humans—seeking help in reaching the bucket.